


Spiderman: No Place Like Home

by Rokwynd



Series: No Place Like Home [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, BAMF Pepper Potts, F/M, Irondad, M/M, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Protective Ned Leeds, Protective Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-07-29 17:00:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20085661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rokwynd/pseuds/Rokwynd
Summary: After the events of Far From Home, Peter Parker tries to figure out what home means to him now.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Peter Parker, now and forever Spiderman (murderer) swung sharply through the gap between two buildings under construction. He leaned his full weight into the turn trying to correct for the weight of MJ, who had his right arm occupied and was squeezing the air out of him in a (highly understandable) death grip. MJ was trying not to scream and draw more attention to them but her panicked whimpers were loud as drums to his super hearing. 

As he cleared the canyon between the buildings he could hear the steady whump of helicopter blades coming from his left, at about his altitude. In an almost instinctive calculation he dropped the strand of webbing he held at the apex of the swing relying on gravity to swing him towards another set of buildings, thank goodness renovations were a way of life in this city. MJ’s panicked almost scream was muffled by his shoulder and he could feel the blunted bite of her teeth as she tried to muffle the outburst in his suit. 

Peter did his best to reassure her with a grip as he launched a new strand relying on KAREN to help with the calculations using the increase in speed to weave his way through the girders and stacks of construction tools and materials. With luck he could break the sightline of his immediate pursuers and use swing low on the side streets. 

_ “And after that, what then Peter?” _ his inner panic demanded, sounding a lot like Beck’s cheerfully malicious voice, _ “You can’t run forever, they are going to catch up with you eventually.” _

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Peter muttered to himself as he took a running leap off an extended girder both wrists extended out in front of him to snag the next building and yanking with all the force he could use without crushing MJ to thrust them across the avenue. If he didn’t think too hard he could pretend he didn’t hear the snapping of camera apps from below. 

Landing on a rooftop with some light cover he shifted MJ into a bridal carry as he raced across the rooftop at full speed, feet almost not touching the ground as he leapt between rooftops. Clearing the expanse of plateaus he shifted MJ to his left side with a mumbled sorry clung tight to her and braced for another swing. Guiding his swings with his right shooter and arm he didn’t really have a destination, just away. 

Mj’s phone was blowing up as he swung down a street, his own had been mercifully silenced by KAREN as soon as he started his flight but MJ hadn’t had a chance to do anything once Peter had grabbed her to avoid the mob in Times Square. He could see the headlines without reading them, Spiderman Revealed, Peter Parker A Murderer, etc etc. Apocalypses were supposed to be announced with the sounds of trumpets, _ or explosions as you curled into a ball the battlefield around you pelting you with debris and the screams of the dying.. _not pop songs. 

Last apocalypse he had been saved by the closest thing to an angel made flesh, all blond hair and quirky glowing smiles, There would be nobody to save him this time. 

Peter could feel his limbs getting heavier between the time spent failing to impress MJ with his swings and running from the crowd he had been going steady for about 2 hours. They were going to grab lunch, not run for their lives. He needed a place to rest, he needed to eat the protein bar he kept stashed for emergencies, he needed a plan, but most importantly he needed to get back to May. 

_ God, May, I am so so sorry. _

……………….

Virginia “Pepper” Potts-Stark, CEO of Stark Industries and it’s numerous subsidiaries arguably the most powerful, non superpowered woman on Earth was currently shovel deep in compost as she worked on the vegetable garden outside the house she and Tony had built. FRIDAY was playing a pleasant playlist in her earpeice as she worked in the garden.

She had a rare day of solitude, Rhodey had taken Morgan for the day and instead of sleeping she had woken up crying again. A little over a year and some of the best therapy she could find and she still had trouble sleeping a full night all the way through. Granted having a hyper-intelligent 6 year old didn’t help with that. All the same, she should have been able to make the attempt.

Instead she was in the garden spreading around the results of over a year’s compost experiments and improved techniques. A year gone, a year after everything…

“Mrs. Stark,” FRIDAY interrupted gently in Pepper’s ear, as Pepper dealt with a stubborn shovel ful, “you have an urgent message.”

“I told you no calls FRIDAY,” Pepper snapped at the AI through her earpiece. Pepper wiped a few stray tears away with the sleeve of her work shirt. “Only family priority messages” _ Rhodey would call directly if it were about Morgan, anything else was company business and could rot today. _

“That’s the thing Mrs. Stark,” FRIDAY said apologetically but urgently, “This is ALPHA priority, it’s the BATHWATER protocol”

“Oh God,” Pepper exhaled, “The Kid”

Tools abandoned Pepper rushed toward the house, not running (yet) but moving with the determined stride that made her a legend in board rooms across the world. The door clicked and she almost missed the sound of the house locking around her, _ like a suit of armor _ as the work table by the fireplace lit up showing Pepper multiple websites, youtube videos, and twitter posts. 

Spiderman identity revealed, Peter Parker is a murder, a terrorist...all variations on the same horrible theme. Multiple videos of the kid wearing the EDITH glasses ordering destruction and murdering the supposed hero Mysterio. Pepper knew better, of course, especially after Happy explained how he lost the plane in London. Normally Pepper left the Spiderman stuff to him, just like Tony had wanted. However this was above and beyond, even for poor capable Happy. 

Pepper took a deep breath, spine straightening. TIme to do what she did best.

“FRIDAY, initiate BATHWATER protocol, and get me Legal on line 1.” 

…………

Happy Hogan slumped a bit into May Parker’s couch as they were circled around on the argument that had started this morning before Peter left for at least the fifth time now.

“Happy, you are very sweet,” May began again sitting next time him her hand on his knee, “And this is a lot of fun but I don’t know if we should get too serious. I love the time we spend together but I don’t know if it’s enough to make it a bigger commitment.”

“It’s like I keep telling you May,” Happy replied in a kind of tired frustration, “I’m not trying to force you into a commitment but I think what we have is a good thing and I would like to see where it could go.”

May leaned her head back into the couch cushions, pinching her nose, “Happy..” she began before his phone rang, he was about to silence it when he noticed the high priority ringtone. 

Happy reached for it, ignoring May’s mouthed “_ Really, you are doing this now?” _

_ “I’m sorry,” _Happy mouthed back before holding the phone to his ear, “Hogan, go.”

Happy could feel himself paling as the voice of FRIDAY spoke to him and explained the situation. It took 3 minutes for the world to change.

“Understood,” Happy said, steeling himself and hanging up the phone with an urgent press.

“May,” he said all previous uncertainty about relationships and personal life matters gone from his voice, “you need to pack a bag, now.”

“A bag?!” May exclaimed, “Happy, what the hell is going on?”

“Spiderman has been compromised,” Happy said as gently as he could, “Someone out there leaked his identity and is blaming him for that shit in Europe.”

“Leaked,” May said panic flooding into her voice, “How the hell did they find out who he was?”

“Oh god,” May started to pace in place, hands moving with nervous energy “ Peter, oh god, what are we going to do..”

“We are going to do like I said,” Happy said firmly but full of concern, “you have 5 minutes to grab anything essential, anything else we can get, but we have to go.”

“But what about Peter?”

“Pete’s a tough kid, he can handle himself,” Happy said projecting far more confidence than he felt at the moment, “Right now I’m doing what I can, I need to get you secured, and his friend, the mouthy kid. I am going to call him while you pack.” Happy said reaching for his phone again.

“Happy, I can’t just pack up and leave, what if Peter comes back?” May protested eyes wide shaking her head in full panic mode for her kid.

Happy put the phone in his suit jacket, moved closer to May and firmly but gently cupped her face in his hands. He started talking to her in a firm confident voice, looking her directly in the eyes.

“May, I know this is bad right now, but there is a plan in place. Now isn’t the time to freak out, we can do that later. The best thing we can do for Peter is to follow it, do you understand me?”

May nodded her head, tears starting to fall and Happy wiped them away gently with his thumbs.

‘Good, go get your stuff, I am going to grab the suits, the glasses and we are going to get you someplace safe.”

May put her hand to one of the hands on her cheeks and squeezed it a moment before nodding, “You promise Peter will be safe?”

Happy nodded back “As safe as I can make him,”

If anything happened to the kid May would tear Happy to pieces. He couldn’t do anything directly for the Kid, that was out of his hands. What Happy could do is keep the people important to Peter Parker safe. If anything happened to them the Kid wouldn’t hurt Happy, no Happy would do that to himself before the Kid even thought about it.

…………..

Peter and MJ were crouched in the shadow made from the eaves of two buildings catching their breath. Peter’s mask was half off as he leaned against a wall and polished off the rest of the protein bar and a water MJ had in her bag. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing given the amount that he usually needed to eat. MJ had silenced her phone and was braced back against one of the walls eyes closed trying to get over her vertigo and nausea from the escape from Times Square. They didn’t have a lot of time but he was going to try to give her all the time he could.

Peter meanwhile was consulting KAREN as subtly as he could, he ignored the wave of news notifications that were from his phone and tried again to get in touch with May, Ned, or Happy. KAREN had advised him not to make phone calls to avoid detection, and he similarly avoided basic social media, so he was trying to contact Ned by some of the backdoor chats in games they played online when he received an urgent notification from KAREN in his mini HUD.

“Peter,” KAREN replied when he acknowledged the message, “not to alarm you further but I am being contacted by FRIDAY, Mr. Stark’s personal AI.”

“Ok,” Peter muttered softly in confusion, “Put her through I guess..”

“Hello Mr. Parker,” the slightly accented voice of the Stark’s personal AI greeted him, “I am sorry to have to speak to you like this, but given your situation I have to let you know that circumstances have triggered a Protocol put into place by Mr. Stark in case a situation like this came to pass.”

_ “Tony _ , _ ” _ Peter thought bitterly, _ “even now he was ready for Peter to fuck things up.” _

“What exactly does this protocol do FRIDAY?” Peter said cautiously thinking back to a drone strike on a mountain road, not even a week ago.

“The BATHWATER protocol will temporarily make me the primary AI of your suit to better enable me to direct you to a Stark Industries safe house. At the same time all of your personal electronics with KAREN or myself in them will be wiped clean and be destroyed as will any nearby. Any suits not confirmed to be in direct keeping of approved personnel will self destruct aside from the suit you are currently wearing.”

At this a series of pictures appeared on his HUD displaying pictures of Pepper, Happy, Colonel Rhodes, Doctor Banner and others he didn’t recognize.

“I don’t care about the suits,” Peter protested as quietly as he could, “what about May?”

“May Parker, and Ned Leeds are currently in the process of being collected by Stark Security head Happy Hogan for relocation to ALPHA base.” Peter felt a small surge of relief at hearing that May, and Ned were with Happy, “Mr. Leed’s family are being relocated to a safe location at this time as well.”

“ALPHA base,” Peter asked panic fighting with confusion, “where the hell is that?”

“ALPHA base is the Stark Lakehouse,” FRIDAY replied simply,

“Of course it is,” Peter muttered, he saw stirring out of the corner of his eye “What about MJ, can she come as well?”

“Of course she can Mr. Parker, she is aware of your identity and has been seen on social media with Spiderman.” Peter let out a sigh of relief mixed with guilt, the AI continued “Miss Jones' family will be provided a security detail unless direct extraction proves necessary.”

“There is one more thing Mr. Parker,” FRIDAY said and Peter tensed up again, “Mrs. Stark wanted me to make you aware that once you initiate BATHWATER things may never go back to the way that you are used to. As such it requires you to give verbal acknowledgement.”

“I do this, and everyone is safe?” Peter pressed

“As safe as we can make them Mr. Parker.” FRIDAY acknowledged,

“Ok, then,” Peter gave a heavy sigh, slid the mask all the way over his face and gently nudged MJ awake, “Sorry MJ, we gotta move.”

MJ grumbled but leaned into Peter as he wrapped an arm around her again to secure her into place.

“Acknowledged FRIDAY, initiate Protocol BATHWATER.”

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the chaos of the reveal of Spiderman's identity the relevant people try to gather together and plan for the future.

Pepper occupied her favorite armchair in the house. It was deeply cushioned but tastefully upholstered to the point it could appear on video calls without knocking off any of Pepper’s credibility. 

Tony had taught Morgan to call it Mommy’s Iron Throne, when she was three. Pepper had hated the name at the time, but it felt appropriate today as she sat in the center of the web of holograms and documents that comprised BATHWATER. 

Even for Tony this plan was ambitious on a level Pepper had never considered applying to one person. He had provided lists of steps and phases including explanations on why they were important to the success of the plan. Tony had done all of the theory work, but as per usual he had left Pepper to handle the actual practical steps. 

With practiced flicks of her fingers Pepper manipulated the web, she organized files for Legal, PR, and Security. Her fingers broke the web of documents into neat need-to-know data lumps to be dissected later. 

Peter had his own folder of course, organized by Pepper into easier to digest chunks. It wasn’t like Pepper thought the kid was stupid, but in what was surely going to be his state of panic she wanted the information accessible without being overwhelming. 

_ “If someone knocks your world on it’s ass, the least they can do is give you table of contents.” _ Pepper thought bitterly as she took a sip of tea before rearranging the worktop again,  _ “Not like anyone did it for me.” _

News clips played in the left corner of vision, nothing striking by itself but in a combination that would keep building like an avalanche if left alone too long. The pressure had already built up on twitter as #Spiderman was trending. 

Pepper kept her eyes on the Stark Industries stock ticker. Prices held steady for the moment, but as more videos came out it would only be a matter of time before someone made the connection. 

The ferry, and the battle in New York when Thanos’ ship had landed the first time were only the major times that Spiderman had been seen with Iron Man. She was already going into battle against public opinion. She didn’t need a battle in the boardroom too, 

_ “Goddamit Tony, you were supposed to handle the superhero shit, and I was supposed to keep the business going. How dare you leave me to do both alone?” _

Movement to her right caught Pepper’s eye, two screens were now tracking two different maps. One was tracking two vitals as they zipped and jigged impossibly over a map of New York. FRIDAY was keeping them moving, but didn’t seem to have a destination set yet. It looked like the weather was getting worse. There wasn’t much she could do about that for now.

The other map is, better, Happy has finally cleared New York city limits, Pepper gives him a little time as she starts working on more documents but once the car reaches the backroads of Pennsylvania she gives in and tells Friday to make the call.

……

Happy was convinced there roads were only called that because dirt trails would have been too embarrassing to put on the local maps. May and the other kid are asleep in the back, the stress and the white noise of the car ride finally giving them a moment of rest. He peeks through the window and the Ned kid is leaning on May’s shoulder, she really was too good for him.

The wiper squeaks loudly and he refocuses on the road, whoever was in charge of this vehicle pool is going to have words with Happy. It’s the only thing he can listen to the radio is full of the same bullshit as everywhere else and he doesn’t dare stream anything. Wake May and Ned up, or the squeak,he could learn to like the squeak if he has to.

Pepper calls sometime after he re enters New York state.

“Hogan, go.”

“Hey Happy,” God she sounds tired, “What’s your status?”

“Good as it can be, we are finally starting the real approach,” almost before he can stop himself he asks “How’s the kid?”

“He’s still on the move, with the girl that was with him, FRIDAY says they are getting close to stopping soon.”

The miles roll on as Happy describes the escape, the amount of times they had to switch cars until they found this half broken down SUV that was somehow in a Stark garage. Things quiet down and the road unfolds in front of him rain pelting the windshield, thunder on the edges of everything.

“Happy?”

“Yeah Pep?”

“I’ve been going over this stuff Tony left, it’s insane. I know you know the Kid, not as well as Tony did, but,” Happy can hear the deep breath as she forces the question out on the exhale, “Is he worth it?”

“You’re asking the wrong person Pep,” Happy fights a yawn, “I’m biased remember, little punk saved my job, and I’m involved with his Aunt.” 

Happy drags a hand across his face for a moment, “You fought with him, when To-when it all went down, you tell me.” 

Happy changes lanes to get around a slow moving sedan.

“I know this kid was important to Tony, before the end he would talk about him and stop, always with the same damned look in his eye” 

Happy checks the backseat again, May is still sleeping or at least looks that way, he drops his voice a little more, 

“When I talk to Peter, I see it in his eyes too, the desire to do more, the doubt, the same blame.” Happy sighs, “Peter is mostly just a name to you Pep, but trust me, he’s all but Tony’s kid.”

“Thanks Happy,” Pepper said softly, “Drive safe now, the Kid just made it into the safehouse.”

Happy fights back a sniffle, his cheeks are wet the car has to have a leak, whoever did maintenance on this car is so fired.

“Good, good,” his voice was huskier than he liked and he cleared his throat. “Tell the little punk if he leaves a mess I am taking it out of his hide, I’m not his damn nanny.”

“I will let him know,” Pepper promises, “Drive safe, be safe.”

“You too Pep,”

Happy leans back into his seat and almost misses the sound of the seat moving behind him until he feels May’s hand squeezing his shoulder, he reaches back and squeezes her hand as the squeaky wipers eat up the silence of the road..

………

Michelle felt the car stop and jerked awake. It was close to dark, or maybe early morning, they had been running for so long now that her sense of time was totally gone. First there had been the frantic swing across the city, then hiding in the Stark safe house,  _ under a freaking factory _ , and now a private jet and car ride to the middle of nowhere. 

She reached for her phone to check the time before shaking her head and remembering it had been fried when things got really weird. 

You’d think the murder charges against the superpowered cute guy she was seeing would be the weird part, but given the Blip that felt, consistent with the world at large. 

Speaking of said cute guy,Peter looked like he was sleeping or at least leaning against the window with his eyes closed. She’d seen him fall asleep in class enough to know he wasn’t really sleeping. The way he leaned his hands were clear, he probably had his web cannon things on even now when they had been told they were safe. 

Peering into the driver's seat the gruff guy from Europe, Happy, was still watching the miles but she could see him glancing back at Peter through the rear view mirror every so often. 

“ETA in about 5 minutes guys,” he said tiredly from the front before turning onto an unmarked road going deeper into the woods. 

Michelle nodded in what she hoped was thanks before turning to wake up Peter. He was already awake, she didn’t see him stir but his eyes were open and already scanning his surroundings. 

“Hey, you OK?” she asked as gently as she could, reaching out for one of his hands.

He took it without looking at her, still checking outside the car, 

“Y-yeah, I’m totally fine, never better,”

“I totally believe you Parker,” she snorted with a half-hearted laugh, “don’t start lying now.”

He gave her hand a squeeze in response, and tried to smile at her but there was something too tense about him. It was like getting closer to wherever they were going was as bad as being on the run. 

They drove the remaining minutes hands linked, she tried to offer him whatever comfort she could but Peter got more tense as the treeline fell away and the gravel road revealed a large log cabin lake house. There was the house itself, a garden, a dock on the lake and what looked like some kind of playhouse tent thing it looked nice and peaceful but Peter looked like he was waiting for everything to explode.

The car stopped before she could ask him about things and there was a sudden rush of people coming out of the house. The first person she saw was Peter’s aunt running out the front door followed by the larger form of Ned. They both approached the car carefully while Happy opened the doors, gave Peter a handshake and a quick shoulder hug and stepped aside for May.

As May and Peter were reunited Michelle stepped to the side, not wanting to get in the way, and not really wanting to draw attention to herself. This was so out of her league that she defaulted to observation mode. 

Peter was being greeted, OK smothered by his Aunt and Ned, Ned after giving Peter one of those stupid over-complicated handshakes and a quick hug had stepped aside and was quiet. Ned and quiet didn’t go together, from everything she knew about where they were Ned should have been tripping over himself on full geek out. They were at Iron Man’s house, Ned should have been borderline unbearable. Instead he was quiet, he may have been smiling but he was watching Peter like he was checking for something Michelle couldn’t see 

Michelle moved over to Ned and before she could say anything she was wrapped in a heavy, but heartfelt bear Hug.

“Holy shit MJ, I am so glad you are OK,” he stopped talking looking like he had crossed a line before she returned the hug with equal force. It felt so good just to be able to stop for a moment. 

“You too nerd, I’m glad you’re OK.” she totally wasn’t fighting back tears, that had to be all the pollen in the air. 

Before things could get any more sappy she saw Peter stiffen a moment before the door to the house open. Walking down from the wraparound porch came THE Pepper Stark. She was dressed in jeans and some flannel work shirt that probably cost more than the car Michelle’s mom drove. Mrs. Stark had a sad smile on her face as she walked up to Peter and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Peter, it’s good to see you, sorry I couldn't get out here sooner but I wanted to make sure Morgan was down for a nap.” Pepper’s smile softened, “I don’t think we need a 6 year old underfoot right now.”

Peter nodded in agreement, but Michelle could hear Ned taking in a nervous breath that matched her own, Peter had stiffened up so quickly when Mrs. Stark had touched his shoulder he looked ready to run again and not stop. 

……

Everyone was taken inside for a late lunch, early dinner, Michelle wasn’t really sure. By all accounts the food was probably good but she didn’t really taste it. She spent the entire meal next to Ned watching Peter. 

Peter was currently parked on a love seat with May, her hand was across his shoulders but he looked like he was trying to take up as little space as possible. This wasn’t the Peter Parker who had been thrilled to swing her across the city like a madman. This was Peter who had come to school like a zombie after his Uncle had died. 

When everyone had finished eating the room was stuck in social vapor lock. There was the weight of so many things to be said but nobody wanted to be the one to break the silence. Pepper naturally was the one to get things moving again.

“OK people, we are where we time, it’s time to get everyone settled.” Pepper said standing up and clapping lightly to draw everyone’s attention, Michelle didn’t miss the way Peter jumped at the soft sound.

“There’s a lot to talk about but everyone needs some rest before all that get’s started, I am just happy that everyone is here safely.” Pepper smiled apologetically, “Sleeping arrangements are a little cramped but we can make do, May, if you and Happy don’t mind sharing, Ned and Michelle is it, you guys can bunk together, and Peter we have arrangements made for you after we FRIDAY give you a medical scan.”

Ned nudged Michelle's arm and whispered to her “C’mon, I think Peter’s going to be a bit, I’ll show you where the room is.” Michelle nodded and let Ned lead her upstairs but only after they both went to Peter and gave him supportive squeezes on the shoulder. 

The room Ned led her to was nice, of course it was everything here was nice and tasteful, but didn’t really have any kind of personality to it. 

“This is it,” Ned said with a dry chuckle,before taking a seat on one of the twin beds “Welcome to the secret lair.”

“Some secret lair,” MJ groused but her usual flair was missing, “I don’t see a single sliding pole to an underground cave,”

“Yeah,” Ned said without much enthusiasm, they were both watching the door and presumably where Peter still was. 

Ned was a likeable enough dork in Michelle’s opinion, she wasn’t super close to him but they were on Decathlon together and did in theory eat lunch together everyday. The biggest tie between them though, was Peter, before vacation they had periphery friends never really talking to each other but around Parker. 

Then Europe happened, and they both became the secret keepers, not to mention almost being killed by killer drones in the Tower of London. There had been talk of a Spidey supporters group chat, but Peter had shot that down almost by reflex. She didn’t know Ned super well, but she did know he should have been at peak fanboy.

“What gives Leeds, I thought you would be tripping over yourself, ”

“I know right,” Ned huffed and scooted back on the bed until his back was against the wall, “before the Blip, if you told me this was going to happen I would have called you crazy.” 

“Now,” he shrugged, “it doesn’t seem that important

“Why not?” she asked gently

“Because, in a perfect world Peter would be freaking out just as hard next to me, or telling me not to embarrass him in front of all the other superheroes.” Ned started playing with a pillow, “Instead he looks like he did the day we all came back to school. You know, after the Reversal” 

“Yeah,” Michelle agreed, “But it’s not like any of us were exactly in a good place then,”

“True,” he said not convinced, “Do you remember where you were after the Reversal?”

“Sure, I woke up on the couch still sick like I was when I had to skip the field trip to MOMA, I honestly thought I had passed out and slept the day away.”

“Yeah, I woke up at home, but Peter, he never told me, or anyone really.”Ned’s face got more concerned, “I know after the ship came down he went to fight, I was distraction,” he said with a hint of pride. “But he never told me what happened after.”

“What do you mean, after?” Michelle said with a frown,

“I don’t know” Ned said frustrated the pillow he was messing with bunched up in his hands “We all know the official story, the Reversal happened and then something big happened at the Avenger’s Compound, Iron Man sacrificed himself and poof, everyone was saved.”

“That’s not the whole story though,” Michelle could see the frustration turn to anger in Ned’s usually happy face, “Whatever happened Peter was there, and it messed him up, bad. I looked where I could to find out what it was, and the only thing I know is that there was some kind of battle.” 

Ned threw the Pillow across the room, “I can’t help him MJ, he won’t talk about it, and that’s cool and I don’t force him. I act like the goofball so he can keep things consistent, because he’s my best friend and I don’t know what else to do.”

Michelle nodded,to keep Ned talking.

Ned jumped up and started pacing, “You’ve seen it, he’s jumpy as hell, especially after Europe, he won’t say anything and I can’t do anything except watch him fall apart. Being here is making it worse, and he has to be here because of internet assholes.”

Ned sighed and he began to pull himself together. “Ok, this isn’t helping and I’m sure you are exhausted from all the running around, I am going to go on a walk, or something. Try to get some sleep, yeah?”

‘Yeah Ned,” Michelle agreed sadly, “For what it’s worth, I appreciate you telling me, everything, if you need to talk, I’m here.”

“I’ll try,” Ned said without much conviction,

”Keep an eye on Peter for me?” she asked softly

“I always will,” Ned agreed and turned to leave shutting the door behind him leaving Michelle in the quiet guest room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has been reading, granting Kudos, or even Bookmarking. Any and all feedback is appreciated, this is meant as a follow up to FFH and the lead in to the "Sequel" to FFH. Any comments or concerns are welcome. So far this story has been beta free, but if anyone is interested please let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has a late night excursion.

Peter woke up with a jolt, and a strangled cry. Sitting up in bed he could feel his t-shirt clinging to him with sweat. He had been dreaming about the battle. Which battle? Take your pick. This time it was the Battle for Earth, he hadn’t had a dream about that one for a while It just made the fresh terror of running across the battlefield, gauntlet hot and glowing at his side a newish experience again. 

It made sense, really, he had read most of the relevant books on psychology during the times he was supposed to go to Post-Blip therapy and given everything dreaming about being chased by impossible odds was appropriate. 

Either way he was up now, as he tried to push the covers back his shoulder twinged again. He’d gone along with the med scans after dinner just to keep Pepper happy, especially since she had pulled no punches by mentioning them in front of May. It was dirty as hell, and unfair but maybe, this time, it had been a good idea.

It’s crazy, but apparently swinging around the city primarily by one arm while hanging onto your half screaming girl you like (girlfriend) was  _ really  _ bad for your rotator cuff. FRIDAY had revealed he’d managed to both dislocate said shoulder and tear most of the muscles in his left shoulder. The healing factor had kept him moving, but just barely, that had been bad. Worse was when they realized that they had to dislocate the shoulder again so that it could heal correctly. 

Of course there had been no drugs, just May trying to talk him through it, Happy assisting while Pepper had to use her armor to have the right amount of strength to pop the shoulder without getting knocked out by reflexive strikes in the process. 

_ He might have dented one of the suit arms with his hands…. _

Somewhere in all of that he had passed out and one nightmare later, here he was. Peter gave some thought to lying down again, the room was pretty quiet. His stomach growled it’s displeasure with that plan and with a sigh Peter threw back the covers and started looking for a lamp or something before remembering where he was. 

“FRIDAY, can you turn the lights to 20% please,” even though he had his own AI it still felt rude to just ask things.

“Of course Peter,” FRIDAYS voice, said softly,

_ Peter? Really? _

“Not that I’m complaining FRIDAY,” Peter mentioned as he found a dresser with clothes close enough to his size, “But what happened to the whole Mr. Parker thing?”

“Sorry I should have mentioned that,” FRIDAY sounded almost contrite, “Your user status has been upgraded from guest to Family per Mrs. Stark’s request last evening while you were unconscious.”

“Uh huh,” Peter hummed slipping into a pair of jeans and a new t-shirt., “What does that mean exactly?”

“It means you have free access to all parts of the property and all of my household protocols barring those restricted by Mrs. Stark of course.” 

“Of course,” Peter agreed almost casually before making his way to the windows covered by heavy blackout curtains, locked of course. “I don’t suppose unlocking the windows is in my protocols?”

“Sorry Peter,” and she almost did sound sorry, “But Mrs. Stark gave-”

“Yeah, I get it,” Peter cut the AI off, “What about food?”

“Food can be arranged, would you like me to light the way?” 

“No thanks,” Peter said finding a pair of house slippers in the closet instead of sneakers, “I can find my own way.”

‘Of course Peter,” FRIDAY agreed, “please let me know if you need anything.”

……

Peter slipped out of his room and shut the door as quietly as he could. For a moment he stood in the upper loft of the Lake house. His own room, because apparently he rated a private room, was in a side hallway. The main loft had a few more doors and now that he took the time to listen he could make out breathing and heartbeats coming from behind the doors. He didn’t focus long enough to distinguish who was who, but it was kind of comforting to have them all around him. 

The hall was quiet with a single carpet runner, and the stairs seemed well made, focusing on them in the dark he padded as quietly as he could to avoid waking anyone up. He didn’t even ask what time it was, but judging by the skylights it was late, or early for sure. He was so engaged in figuring out what time he was that he almost missed the creak of the step halfway down the stairs. As soon as he started to put his weight on it he jumped in reflex and was balanced on the banister. 

More for practice than out of need he kept his eyes on his feet and made his way heel to toe down the banister. A small flip later he was off the banister and on his way through the darkened living room to the kitchen. 

“I’ve never actually seen you do that out of costume,” a voice mused softly from the darkness,

Peter jumped in pure reflex, feet on the ceiling pivoting on the rougher logs. He quickly pointed his wrists at the source of the sudden noise…. Pepper, in a chair working on a tablet. She quirked an eyebrow at him from behind reading glasses.

“Not that I mind you jumping on the ceiling,” she smiled while speaking quietly, “But you probably don’t want to do that in bare feet, I’d hate for you to get a splinter.”

Peter blushed at the inherent MOM in the comment and slightly less gracefully dropped from the ceiling and took a moment to toe into his slippers. 

“Sorry” he muttered fighting a blush, “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You didn’t” Pepper assured him, “Morgan had a bad dream, all the strange people in the house brought back funeral memories.”

“Yeah,” Peter sighed heavily, “I get that, I’m really sor..”

“Nope,” Pepper said firmly, glasses sliding on her nose a little as she put the tablet down firmly, “It is way too early in the morning to play the unnecessary apology game.”

“I don’t know about unnecessary,” he grumbled before his stomach decided to growl again,

‘Tell you what Peter,” Pepper said with a sympathetic smile, “There’s some peanut butter cookies in the top left cabinet, grab those, some milk and something for yourself and we can talk about it.”

…..

Several sandwiches, cookies and milk glasses later, the midnight snack was nothing but stray crumbs on the plate in front of Peter. He sat across from Pepper feet tucked under his knees on the couch. It had been nice, eating secret cookie stashes in the middle of the night, it felt normal but of course it couldn’t last.

‘How many days?” he finally asked,

“Hmm?”

“How many days do we have until you need to kick us out,” he began speaking faster trying to make the case, “or if it’s easier I can go now. It’s dark out noone will know where I came from” 

Pepper’s mouth was agape, he had to give her more, he got up and started to pace.

“I mean just watch out for the others, I can go off on my own, I will be fine, they probably just need a couple of days before this all dies down.”

Pepper practically jumped out of her seat and stood in front of putting her hands on his shoulders,

“Kid,-Peter look at me,” She said squeezing for emphasis, “Nobody is talking about kicking you out, or anything like that, why are you?”

“Because it’s too nice here,” he said in almost a whisper, “if I stay I am going to get everyone killed.”

Pepper was looking him directly in the eyes now, pinning him with her gaze, “Why do you think that?”

“Because of Beck, because I gave him the glasses, because I couldn’t move fast enough” the words were pouring out of his mouth now, “because I got fooled.” He was angry now, pushing back against her grip.

“You want to know why I can’t stay,” he shrugged her hands off, raising his voice, “it’s because I don’t deserve it!” his voice was wet with tears and anger, 

“Tony needed me to keep the stones safe, and I couldn’t do it. You, Cap, the horse lady, even Captain Fucking Marvel had to step in because I couldn’t do it.” The words were coming out faster, almost unintelligible 

“Everyone had to help me out and now I’m here depending on you.” he was pacing hands flailing in frustration “I failed again, and now everyone is paying the price, and we all dance around the fact that if it weren’t for me Tony wouldn’t be DEAD!”

That last word echoed around the empty house, like an accusation. Peter couldn’t look at Pepper, he stared at the floor hating the way the tears streamed down his face. He’d finally owned up to letting her husband, his mentor die. He felt her move, and braced for the punch, or slap, whatever it was, he deserved it.

He felt arms closing tightly around him instead. 

“Oh, Kid,” she breathed drawing him into the hug he could feel her tears on his cheeks. “The worst part is that you’ll never know how much you are just like him.”

Peter clung to Pepper, crying deep frustrated sobs, “I-i miss him, so-so much, I don’t know what to do.”

“I know Peter,” she said also sobbing and rubbing his back in small circles, “me too.”


	4. Chapter 4

Michelle decided that after three days at the cabin looking after Morgan with Ned she needed a break before she broke. It wasn’t like Morgan was a bad kid, for one she was scary smart, which made sense but was a little unnerving if you considered her clubhouse had drafting boards inside it. Still having a six year old talk about basic robotics like most kids talked about Paw Patrol, or whatever the show was for young kids was unsettling. 

Ned took to babysitting like a duck to water. He had mentioned at one point pre Blip about having a younger sister, but he didn’t talk about her much post-Blip. They had been informally but politely banished outside the house for the day to let Pepper talk to Peter, His Aunt and Happy about the whole identity situation. After the umpteenth round of hide and seek, followed by Nerf guns and whatever else was around in a six year old genius’ mind Michelle was spent. Ned had taken one look at her face when Happy brought out a tray of sandwiches and things for lunch and told her that she was benched. 

“Go read or something,” he said to her, shoving the remainder of a chicken salad in his mouth, “Your inner introvert is about to have a temper tantrum and I don’t want to be around to see it.”

She wanted to argue and protest, but the urge to get away and curl up in herself was tangible. She subtly flipped him off, out of Morgan’s sight of course. Flashed him a grateful smile and snuck inside to grab a book from the room she and Ned were sharing. It shouldn’t really be called sneaking but when she walked in the amount of tension in the house hit her like a punch in the face.

Pepper was on one side of the dining room table next to an older black man who Michelle kind of recognized as War Patriot, Iron Machine, something like that. She knew whatever his hero name was that he was James Rhodes, Tony Stark’s best friend. He had gotten in late last night while everyone save Peter was eating dinner at the table, not talking about the boy not talking to the rest of them.

Speaking of the boy, he was currently sitting in a chair hunched close to his Aunt as Pepper was pointing at some holographic documents and outlining certain passages. Sitting between the two groups at the normal head of the table was Happy. He seemed to be making notes following what Mrs. Stark said, but he kept glancing at May as well. 

Michelle tried not to pay any attention, or draw any to herself as she crept upstairs to grab the book on philosophy in business ethics she had borrowed from the house library. On the way down she missed a step with a creak in it but all of the adults were too engrossed in discussing the fine points of what sounded like the Sokovia Accords. Peter turned briefly at the noise, Michelle pointed back at the table mouthed ‘ _ pay attention’  _ and shot him the bird for good measure when he lifted his eyebrows at her and smiled a little. 

Infiltration and interaction accomplished she found a long bench looking at the lake and curled up with a light outdoors blanket from a nearby chest before diving into her book. It was about an hour later when she heard the front door slam and Peter came storming out of the house, he wasn’t running but he was rushing towards the free standing garage. Around forty-five minutes later, not that she was  _ actually _ counting, May came out of the house as well, and began to storm down one of the property footpaths. 

Michelle stayed where she was until FRIDAY announced dinner. Dinner was quiet but tense, Michelle and Ned were left to one side of the table while Mrs. Stark and Colonel Rhodes spoke to each other in quiet voices. Happy had left shortly after dinner started, going down the same trail path May had gone down. While Michelle and Ned were keeping Morgan distracted near the end of the meal the front door opened forcefully May, followed by Happy. 

“Would you like something to eat Mrs. Parker?” Mrs. Stark asked super politely.

“No thank you, Mrs. Stark,” May responded icily with a glare at Mrs. Stark that Michelle flinched back from, even as she admired it, “You and yours have done quite enough for my family today,”

Michelle could hear Ned’s gulp mirroring her own as Mrs.Stark pursed her lips into a thin line, “Of course, please let FRIDAY or myself know if you change your mind.”

Mrs. Parker gave a curt nod and went upstairs to the room she was sharing with Happy and not-quite slammed the door. In the following tension Michelle excused herself rinsing off her plate and left the house to go back outside to her bench, the blanket and her watch over the garage. 

…..

Michelle didn’t know when she had fallen asleep, but she was sure about the quiet voice gently shaking her shoulders and saying her name even as he drew the blanket to cover her better...Peter.

“Hey” she said quietly opening her eyes and losing the fight against the yawn that came out with the word. 

“Hey yourself, “ Peter said chuckling lightly. She could make out his face in the light from the windows and the moonlight. His eyes looked puffy and the smile looked forced. 

Without saying a word, Michelle sat up, held the blanket open, grabbed Peter by the wrist and drug him unresisting next to her on the bench before covering both of them with the blanket. They sit together in silence for a while, leaning against each other for comfort. Michelle had heard about waiting someone out and letting them tell things at their own pace, and it seemed like a good idea...but the mosquitos had started biting. 

“You know?” she says gently as she reached out to grab Peter’s hand, “You will have to talk to someone eventually. What’s going through that big brain of yours Peter?”

She felt him stiffen and for a moment it looked like he was going to get up but instead he collapsed into the bench, and into her. 

“It’s everything, “ he confessed quietly, for her ears only, “remember in english the story about the monkey’s leg,” 

“Monkey’s paw,”

“Yeah paw, whatever,” Peter brushed the distinction aside, “It feels like that, I want to be special, boom, radioactive spider bite, I want to date one girl, of course her dad is a villian trying to kill me. I want to defend the city, be an actual Avenger. I get beamed into space and turned into dust after fighting Grimace.”

He shook his head and squeezed her hand tighter, Michelle just returned the squeeze and hoped it would keep him talking. 

“Then I came back, I wanted a normal life, and to date the best girl I knew, and instead I have this,” He waved his arm under the blanket seeming to take in the lake and garage in front of him.”

Michelle turned her head to look at Peter, tears were streaming down his cheeks, when he tried to turn away she reached her free hand up to cup his cheek.

“Peter,” she whispered, “What do you mean by you have this, what’s wrong?” 

He took a deep breath, like he was about to take a big dive into a pool, 

“Mr. Star-” he began than shook his head. “No, Tony, during the five years we were gone had a lot of time to think about what if the worst happened. Because thinking about this was nothing like the Decimation, it was easier.” 

“There was a recording down in the lab, he explained what he was thinking, he  _ apologized  _ for it MJ,” Peter was fighting for control and she kept contact with him, trying to steady him. “He was talking about these plans he had for the summer, after we got back from the original trip. A real internship, meeting some kid he knew that was like me, setting me up for school, you know, all the crap I dreamed about and could ever want.”

“And then Thanos happened,” Michelle said so softly she wasn’t sure if Peter heard her,

“And then Thanos happened,” Peter agreed, anger working into his voice,”S-stuff happened and in the 5 years he got married, had a kid, and tried to forget about things. Except he didn’t even forget, when he was planning this place he still kept me in mind.”

“The room I'm in, it was, it was always in the plans as mine. On every floor of the house the ceiling is tall enough for me to jump on and walk upside down on if I really want to. The garage has machines specifically to build and maintain my suits, not just his, machines and equipment just for me.”

“He set all this up, knowing I wouldn’t come back, but he did it anyway,” Peter took a deep breath the tears now a flood down his cheeks and he turned to the lake. “Then this last year, he was approached by the other Avengers, they needed his help to get everyone back. He told them no, because he didn’t want to lose what he had. He fucking admitted that in the recording he left me.”

Michelle heard a snap and the arm of the bench Peter had been gripping was cracked in his hand, “H-he told me he changed his mind because of me, he creat--,” Peter shook his head cutting himself off then continued, 

“He did what he did for me, and I’m just supposed to accept that. I don’t want to be dead, and I don’t want you, Ned or May to be dead either but how the fuck do you tell someone that? How do you tell me everyone in the universe is alive because of me? Everyone has a second chance, and I wasted mine the first chance I got.” His jaw was tightly clenched now and he was doing his best not to look at her, he was staring up at the stars.

Michelle wrapped herself around Peter in the best hug she could manage. She didn’t say anything; she just stayed close and offered what support she could to him. She didn’t know how much time passed with her just holding him, but at some point she felt his arm shift and Peter was running his hand down her back. 

“It’s not all bad,” he said eventually, like he was trying to convince himself, “All of the legal crap is being sorted out, apparently the video is enough unproven evidence that they can’t just haul me in. You and Ned can probably go home by the end of the week, We, I mean Stark Industries will give your some security until things die down.”

“That’s great,” Michelle wasn’t fully convinced, “What aren’t you telling me Parker?”

“I’m going to be here the rest of the summer,” Peter admitted, “There’s a lot of legal stuff like signing the Accords, agreeing to train under Colonel Rhodes, or some other Avengers, and I am going to have to quit doing Spiderman stuff on the side.” Peter gave out an uneasy sigh, “That’s all the easy stuff, there’s a lot of business stuff that Tony set up too, when that came up May started arguing with Pepp-Mrs. Stark about it. Eventually we are going to have to deal with that stuff too.” 

“Your Aunt was super pissed, you went off to the garage and she stormed out a little bit later” Michelle admitted, “Happy had to bring her back or she might still be roaming the woods; not that I was paying attention or anything.”

“You always pay attention,” Peter murmured before kissing her gently on her forehead, “Thank you, I count on it.”

“Somebody has to,” she replied with a quiver of a smile, “you’d be hopeless without me.” 

“I wouldn’t be hopeless,” he disagreed, “, but just in case, let’s not find out if that’s true or not.”

Michelle snuggled in closer kissing Peter gently on the mouth, before leaning back into the hug as he wrapped his arms around her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a hard chapter for me to write. I wrote out the recording from Tony and kept trying to write out the Accords meeting with the hero-related people in the house. 
> 
> In the end I just felt it was more interesting as Peter unloading to MJ instead of YAID(yet another info dump). 
> 
> Thanks again to everyone who has been reading this story, all of the Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and help me to wrangle the plot bunnies and release more to the story. Please let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

THIS IS A NEW UPDATE FROM DAILYBUGLE.NET!!!

The scene reveals the familiar dramatic greenscreen of DailyBugle.net Sitting behind the desk is the voice of the Bugle J. Jonah Jameson.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Efforts continue in the attempt to capture costumed terrorist at large Peter Parker also known as Spiderman. Spiderman is allegedly known to have been responsible for the attacks on London, Prague and Venice, Parker is also, according to the authorities  _ allegedly,”  _ Jameson uses finger qoutes, “Responsible for the murder of the hero from another dimension known Quentin Beck, also known as Mysterio. This brave soul died saving us from Parker and his drone forces before they could do more harm than they had already done.”

The Camera focuses in on Jameson’s face and the chyron image changes to the Stark Industries logo.

“It’s been a week now since the reveal of Parker as Spiderman’s murderous intentions via video, but now familiar forces seek to halt the spread of justice. The Bugle has recently received information from reliable sources that the drones Spiderman used in the assault on London were actually technology from Weapons Merchant and Superhero enabler Stark Industries. Apparently Stark Industries has learned nothing from the death of it’s Namesake, who is reported to have died in heroic self sacrifice but other sources say he was stopped in continuing his mad schemes to wipe out the other half of humanity and establish himself as head of a superpowered tyranny.”

Jameson take a deep breath and looks into the camera as the image changes to video of a pile of Starkpads being smashed with sledgehammers.

“It’s time my loyal listeners to do what is right, time to reject the Stark Tech the best way you hurt any business in their wallet Boycott Starktech, smash your Starkphones and tablets, sell off your company stock, let Pepper Stark, supposed widow of Tony Stark what being a hero is actually like by rejecting those who harbor terrorists..”

……

“FRIDAY, turn that bullshit off, please,” James Rhodes snapped in irritation at the hologram and the AI.

“Of course, Rhodey,” FRIDAY responded pleasantly,and maybe he’s wrong but with some amusement. Fucking Tony and his AI’s.

Rhodey turned his attention back to the (slowly) shrinking mountain of paperwork between himself and Pepper on the dining room table. He picked up another form related to the Accords, that (once again) confirms that he Col. James Rhodes aka War Machine would take on the mentoring responsibilities for one Peter Parker aka Spiderman. He initialed in triplicate in all the right places, leaving room for the Kid to do the same. Tossing the paper on the OUT pile he looked up to Pepper’s bemused expression.

“What?” he asked, leaning back into a full body stretch. It felt so good that he ignored the bump of his leg braces on the chair and floor. 

“Nothing,”Pepper smirked, innocently, “I never realized that you hated paperwork enough to start abusing my AI.”

Rhodey opened his mouth to protest, but instead nodded his head, “OK, guilty, but you have to agree that Jameson is at best an uninformed asshat.”

“I totally agree,” Pepper said bending back to her own paperwork, dealing with Stark Industries financials as well as legal custody questions for one Peter Parker aka Spiderman, “But at the moment he isn’t a priority, but don’t worry,” Pepper smiled sharply, eyes cold, “when it’s time to deal with Jameson and the Bugle , he will regret ever making it onto my list.”

Rhodes winced a little at that smile, Justin Hammer had been on Pepper’s list, and after the Decimation Stark Industries, had committed to a hostile takeover of Hammer Tech., Pepper had then made Hammer Tech responsible for contributing its profits to FEAST and other charities while getting saddled with all of the unprofitable contracts. 

In just two years Hammer tech had folded, Justin Hammer was even more a disgrace than he had been previously, and mysteriously all of the competent Hammer employees were now working directly for Starktech. Rhodey loved both Pepper and Tony, but it was a good thing they hadn't married before the Snap, otherwise Pepper might be running this sorry world now.

“ _ On second thought,” Rhodey mused, “That might not be so bad.” _

Rhodey dismissed the thought,

“Speaking of your list,” he asked Pepper while grabbed another sheet, “How is project number 1 holding up?”

“It all depends on who you ask,” Pepper replied with a little frustration, “According to Peter, he is perfectly fine, grateful, and absolutely not overwhelmed by any of this, why do you ask?” Pepper raised the pitch of her voice slightly on the last bit, in an uncanny imitation of a nervous Peter.

“How does that translate to those of us who aren’t under eighteen?”

“He’s nervous,” Pepper shrugged, “It’s perfectly reasonable, but there it is, he’s a superpowered genius kid under a lot of stress and bored out of his mind. Did you know extreme dusting existed?”

“Hold up,” Rhodey couldn’t help himself, he looked up from the document into Pepper’s grinning face,”that’s a thing?”

“According to Peter it is,” Pepper confirmed, “It was raining a couple of days ago, so everyone was trapped inside. I had just put Morgan down for a nap and left Peter, Michelle, and Ned in the living room. I thought they were working on summer assignments, I came out of Morgan’s room to see Peter wiping down the loft railing, from  _ underneath _ the railing. The little jerk was hanging onto the lip of the ceiling and stretching to dust. Before he could see me one of the other kids tossed a feather duster at him, almost missed and he webbed it before it could hit me instead. He’d been dusting random places on the upper floors and ceiling for the past twenty minutes while the other two tossed tools at him.

Rhodey couldn’t help himself and started openly laughing at Pepper’s concerned face ”THAT is awesome,”    
  


Pepper arched an eyebrow at him, and quickly lost her composure, “OK, yeah it is awesome, but you weren’t the one who almost had a heart attack due to free jumping teenager. He was very sorry of course, because, Peter, but I told him no webslinging in the house.”

Rhodey had tears now, he knew Tony wanted the house to be ‘spider-kid friendly’ but this was too much. 

“Oh that reminds me,” Pepper said wiping her eyes and trying to regain control, “FRIDAY, has Peter been studying the documents I sent him?”

“No Boss,” the AI replied promptly, “The only documents Peter has accessed have been technical logs in the lab.”

“Of course they were,” Pepper muttered in a very familiar but exasperated way, “ The next time he accesses documents of any kind please remind him that I am going to be quizzing him on Saturday. Tell him that If he doesn’t answer to my satisfaction I am going to revoke his access to the garage for a week.”

“Of course, Boss,” FRIDAY replied,

“Can you actually do that?” Rhodey asked,

“Up to a point,” Pepper shrugged, “Tony hardwired Peter’s biometrics into every Stark related R&D project and facility on the planet and facilities yet to come. But the garage is on house property, so I can override that if I need be.”

“But it’s Peter…”Rhodey began,

“So I won't have to,” Pepper completed, “at least not this time.”

They both bent back to their work, and as the pile kept shrinking Rhodey decided he needed a real break. He stood up, stretched and walked to the kitchen getting glasses of water for himself and Pepper As he finished filling the glasses he heard shouting and looked out the kitchen window. 

Down by the lake Peter, Michelle, Morgan and Ned were playing a version of soccer that was much closer to Calvinball. Peter and MJ were face to face and Rhodey could tell that the Kid was holding back, not just for the benefit of the others but to also get some more face time with his girl. Everyone looked like they were having fun so Rhodey just returned to the table and handed Pepper her glass, which she took with a silent thanks. 

“Are you still sending the other kids home on Saturday,” he asked taking his own seat, 

“I’m not sure now,” Pepper said chewing on the end of a pen, “Technically it’s probably safe enough, I plan on sending the Leeds’ back with a security detail of course. I just feel weird sending Spiderman’s girlfriend and a teenager who can hack a Stark suit out of my sight right now.”

“You have to send them home sometime,” Rhodey said sympathetically, “They’re good kids, but they do have families who are worried about them.”

“I know,” Pepper sighed, “I’m worried too especially after that,” she gestured where the Daily Bugle story had been playing. “This would be so much easier if Peter’s aunt were speaking to me.”

“You did come at her in full Pepper Business mode,” Rhodey reminded her, “She’s tough but I don’t blame her for being overwhelmed.”

“I know,” Pepper leaned back taking a sip of her water, “Everything I have left is related to guardianship, I can work around it by saying that Peter as Spiderman is a ward of Stark Industries thanks to his suit. But that is extremely complicated versus getting his actual legal guardian to go along with it.”

‘You might actually have to talk to her then,: Rhodey said reasonably,

“I know,” Pepper said taking another drink, “She’s on a supply run with Happy right now, I will talk with her tonight,” Pepper hesitated, “Will you help me?”

“Of course,” Rhodey smiled, “It wouldn’t be the first time I had to run interference between a Stark and the person they mortally offended,”

Rhodey heard Pepper’s chair shift before the kick started, he turned his leg to allow Pepper to hit leg instead of exobrace with her foot. She might be somewhat violent, but he might have deserved this one.

They talked quietly for another hour when FRIDAY announced the approach of a vehicle down the private drive, Happy returning with supplies. As the vehicle pulled in Rhodey could clearly hear Happy shouting to the kids down by the lake. 

‘Hey! Three Musketeers, get your butts over here and help unload! I’m not as young as I used to be, and I sure as he-ck don’t have superpowers. Time to earn your keep.”

Rhodey and Pepper managed to secure the last of the files before Happy and company tromped into the house, most of them carrying a bag or two while Peter carried 5 paper bags. The controlled chaos of the lake house began once again. 


	6. Chapter 6

Peter closed the file on the tablet and stretched on the ceiling of the garage. He casually shrugged the Tablet into a shelf he had installed on the ceiling for that purpose. It seemed logical, especially after almost braining Ned with the same tablet when the three of them had been studying in Peter’s (guest) room in the lake house. Ned had thought that moment, inspired by highly experimental web fluid, had been one of the coolest things ever. 

MJ, of course, had just rolled her eyes and made it a point from then on to obviously and blatantly study the ceilings of any rooms she entered around the house. 

It had stopped being funny when Morgan started doing it too…

Peter tensed and flipped himself, correctly, this time, into the desk chair in front of the workstation. Peter’s workstation was firmly on the ‘spider’ side of the 2 car garage size building. His portion was home to chemistry, carbon mono-filament devices and computers to maintain the same. It was slightly over crammed with equipment that stood out Starkly, ha ha, against the log walls. 

Looking away from the walls he purposely avoided looking at the so-called ‘Iron’ side of the garage. That had been Tony’s area, Peter had gone there once initially to access Tony’s final message. Aside from routine maintenance tasks that he just couldn’t  _ not _ do he avoided that section of the garage like the floor and ceilings were lava. 

If he did his best he could pretend that the Iron portion of the garage was just storage space. Eventually he would have to bring the bots out of storage but it didn’t feel right yet. He didn't deserve them.

Peter shook his head and focused on his own consoles, the web fluid design was solid. It was a smaller more compact formula, useful for emergency self defense and light emergency web-slinging. Perfect for the Spiderman that everyone knew about but couldn’t legally  _ be _ a superhero unless his life was in true personal danger. 

As the Accords committee had requested he had turned in every iteration of the web shooters he owned. They were now being housed in SI vaults until the new Avengers Compound could be completed. 

Everyone who actually knew Peter knew that at best this was a minor setback until EDITH could be utilized to release any of his various suits to him via drone if need be. Colonel Rhodes and Pepper had been right, after a few arguments of course. MJ might have helped reinforce their points later on the porch one night but they didn’t need to really know that. The important thing was that the committee felt it had a measure of control to present to the UN and the public at large. 

They had said nothing about building brand new web shooters meant for emergency self-defense. Ned had of course been thrilled at being included in the design phase, MJ had just pursed her lips and went back to her summer reading. 

Peter would admit to a moment of panic when he went in one afternoon after sparring with Happy to find the file had been accessed without his permission. That’s when he noticed notes from Col. Rhodes, who he still couldn’t call Rhodey yet, with suggestions on how to make his new shooters less noticeable. 

The new design had promise, as he was fine tuning the amount of pressure that would be needed to have the contact pad adhere to his palm and his spider stickiness the display began to light up with an urgent message alert from FRIDAY.

“Hey Boss,” (and didn’t that just hurt every time she called him that), “You have a message from May Parker”

“Can you table that Fri? Let her know I received it but I will get back to her in like twenty minutes?” Peter asked distantly as he glared at the screen and a potentially bothersome component that didn’t want to unfold neatly. He honestly needed an engineer for this, but that wasn’t going to happen with Tony gone. 

“I don’t think so Boss,” Friday said almost regretfully, “She said it was a Family Emergency, emphasis hers.”

“Fuuuu,” Peter started to groan before he cut himself off, “OK, tell her I will be there as soon as I clean up.”

“That’s the thing Boss,” FRIDAY interrupts, “She’s outside the workshop and said if you aren’t ready in five minutes she is coming in anyway.”

His eyes darted to monitor showing the door outside the garage workshop and there indeed was May Parker arms crossed glaring holes into the false wood fronting on the access door. He tried to clean the best he can, but just managed to get his most important worked tucked away before the door opened. May’s angry footfalls echo in the quiet workshop as she strides directly towards Peter. His spider senses may not be detecting danger, but his nephew senses were giving off an all frequencies alarm. 

Peter knew there were two ways to deal with an enraged May Parker: Blindly or with as much emotional information as possible. From the way she walked in, this wasn’t a school thing, it might have been a ‘studying for Stark stuff thing’, but given the way May had been arguing with Pepper it didn’t seem likely. He took a deep breath and started turning towards May in his chair. He used the moments delay to gauge her breathing and heartbeat….Oh shit….

It was a secret thing, her heartbeat had only been that rapid when she had found him in the suit and had spent the next 2 hours swapping between yelling at him in person and Tony over the phone. He turned and looked May in the face but not quite in her eyes, her arms were folded hugging herself and her posture was tense as was her jaw. She looked like she was trying to bite back words. What the fuck had she found out that got her this pissed, he didnt recall doing anything this crazy.

Peter Parker met May Parker’s eyes and he felt his stomach flip flop in a triple somersault; May wasn’t just furious, she was scared out of her mind….she knew. It was in the way she kept looking at him like he was going to fall apart and the way she looked away from any of the Spider-tech he hadn’t been able to stash in time. 

‘Better get this over with,’ he thought to himself but before he could fully open his mouth to speak May cut him off,

“Don’t even try it, Peter” he could hear the emotions raging in the five words.

He sighed instead and gestured at one of the other lab chairs, “Will you at least sit down?”

May looked like she was on the verge of denying him but she also sighed to herself and sank angrily into the simple lab chair. “Why didn’t you tell me, Peter?”

“Tell you what?” he asked vainly, trying to buy time.

“Everything Peter, from Germany all the way up to you getting hit by a train in Europe. You risked yourself so many times and you didn’t have the courtesy or common goddamn respect to tell me.”

“May,” he started trying to explain himself but she cut him off.

‘No,” she said, shaking her head, as tears started to form in her eyes, “ Not this time, Kiddo, it’s bad enough all of this happened, but it’s part of your whole Spider thing. In a way I can accept it, but what really hurts is that you went through all of this without letting me know Pete. You put yourself in mortal danger, and I had to find out from Pepper Stark during an argument about your future.”

He couldn’t say anything, he just stared at her watching her heart break.

“We were arguing about money of all stupid things, they think the world of you Kid and I couldn’t understand why they were doing this much for us. It just didn’t feel right, it felt like charity.” She snorted, “I told them as much too, that you were an amazing kid but it was too much, that I couldn’t see why you needed all this we were good with the basics. They looked at me like I was crazy, and then Colonel Rhodes asked if I knew. Knew what? I asked him, they showed me Pete, the battle footage, everything you never did.”

She looked him in the eyes tears streaming down her face, like she dared him to argue. He couldn’t argue instead he reached for her hand. His Aunt almost rejected his hand but she took a deep breath and returned his simple grip with her own death grip. 

“I won’t pretend this doesn’t hurt Peter, finding out from two almost strangers about you putting your almost dying multiple times is never going to be fun. So this is it you hear me,” May reached out and grabbed his hand with both of hers, “This is the last lie, you hear me? You lied about being Spiderman, and now you lied about how much being Spiderman has cost you. I can’t take another big lie Pete.” 

“I’ll give up the suit,” Peter promised hastily taking both of her hands, “I can put it away, I can do it if it’s going to hurt you this much.”

“You couldn’t make it five seconds,” May half-laughed in disbelief. She reached up a hand and cupped his cheek, “I know you think you mean it sweetie, but after everything I just saw, I know for a fact you couldn’t give this up. You are too much like your Dad and your Uncle to just let the bad things happen from the sidelines. I have some other ideas instead.” 

“Like what?” he asked cautiously, “What else can I do?”

“Therapy for starters,” May stated with no room for argument, “I’m serious, Pepper and Mr. Rhodes agreed to help you find someone. They said they’d even ask someone named Sam if you didn’t find anyone you like.”

“Sam?,” Peter went from confusion to panic, “May, tell me that Captain America, isn’t being bugged about who my therapist is, he is way too busy for that?!”

“That’s what I said,” May admitted, “But Pepper assured me that he volunteered, plus this way you might actually go.” 

Ok, so she knew that too….

“May, I..god I don’t even know how to say how sorry I am,” Peter said as he embraced her face buried in May’s shoulder,

“Don’t be sorry sweetie,” May said rubbing his back in smaller circles, “We just both need to be better at this going forward, there’s a lot of stuff coming and we have to stay on top of things.”

Peter pulled back, Nephew senses tingling, “What kind of things?”

*****

“Well, first of all, ” May answered, “I have a new job, you are looking at Stark Industries’ new director of charity oversight?”

“That’s awesome May!,” Peter said then frowned, “Hold up, you loved working for F.E.A.S.T. and I thought you said you would only work for Stark quote ‘Over your dead body`.”

“I do, and I did,” May acknowledged, “Then Pepper showed me something that struck home, they were tracking that Beck guys’ financials and it looked like some of his money came from embezzling S.I. charity funds. From the way it looks the old person in charge was either involved with the whole thing or just plain negligent and sent the money out without checking on things.”

“So, what? You took the job because Beck hurt me?” Peter asked dubiously

“Kind of,” May admitted, “I took the job because it needs to be done and it will help us afford our new apartment.”

“What new apartment?” Peter asked

“The highly secured, or so Happy assures me, apartment that we are going to be moving into located in a Stark owned building.” May couldn’t hold back her bitterness, “I don’t want to move either, but after everything, it’s the best option.”

“So I guess I should start packing too,” Peter said reluctantly, starting to rise but before he can get moving May puts a hand on his shoulder to keep him seated. 

“Not this time Pete,” she says with a wry smile, “It turns out there are advantages to both of us being publicly linked to S.I. One of them being we can actually hire people to move stuff, instead of You, Happy and Ned trying to pretend you aren’t carrying all the furniture downstairs by yourself.”

“For someone who was supposed to be pretending Happy didn’t quit bitching about his back for like a month,” Peter snarked gently.

“I told him not to try and keep up, but you know how his ego gets.” May said not quite excusing her on again, off again boyfriend with a shake of her head, “Anyway, Happy won’t be available to break his back this time. After he drops me off he has to make a run to Tennessee for some reason and a week later he is taking MJ and Ned back.”

“Ok, I am going back with MJ and Ned right?” He says hopefully

“That’s not what I said Peter,” May said regretfully, “You are staying until about a week before school, the pressure is lessening but we all agreed keeping you out of the city was the best way to remove you from trouble, and from temptation.”

“I don’t need to be in New York to get into trouble,” Peter protested, then groaned, “Can I take that back?”

“I don’t think so,” May said her smirk becoming a grin, “If it helps, you can consider your time here as punishment for not telling me anything. That and the amount of business homework and general training Pepper and Colonel Rhodes are going to put you through.”

Peter winced, “Summer camp to boot camp?” He stops a moment to shake his head “This right here is why I don’t tell you things.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am glad this chapter came out, I am even happier it's over. As always thank you for reading, fun things are to come.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Your boy is a bit of a show off," Ned informed MJ sunnily as she sat back against a nearby tree book in front of her face seemingly as per usual. 
> 
> "He's not 'My Boy'" MJ shot back rolling her eyes, "Because that would mean I'm 'His Girl' and that's how the cycle of patriarchy sustains itself." 
> 
> "You say that," Ned grinned at her " but you haven;t turned a page for a solid five minutes, right around the time Peter started doing those leg stretches.”
> 
> MJ’s cheeks colored slightly as she deliberately turned a page. “It’s the system; I am a victim of it’s tools just as much as any other woman.”

Ned held his phone up vertically to focus on the two figures in the middle of the clearing a mile or so away from the lake house. This whole summer was on a constant see-saw that went from awesome(His fling with Betty Brandt, seeing Peter as Spiderman/NIght Monkey in Europe, Staying in Tony Stark’s house and briefly seeing one of his labs and of course meeting Pepper Stark and freaking War Machine!) To the really shitty (See his best friend almost dying and having his identity revealed to the world by some asshole on the internet.) 

Ned was an eternal optimist, or at least that is what his Grandma said, all he really knew was that there was way too much cool stuff in the world to be down on it all the time. It was probably the reason he and Peter had been best friends since middle school. Given all the truly horrible shit Peter had been through Ned was always there to point out the amazingly positive stuff. 

Take now for instance, all last night after dinner in the Stark House (internal squee must stay internal) Peter had been complaining about having to workout in the morning with freaking War Machine! 

Maybe Peter had lost lab time until he started taking the work outs seriously, but again Peter was being trained by _ another _ superhero….again. It probably was deserved that Peter threw a pillow at him from the ceiling and then went to go ‘hang out’ with MJ. 

The whole MJ thing was weird though, like she started off as a reluctant lunch buddy and decathlon teammate/captain. That was all good. Unfortunately for Peter’s lack of secret keeping skills she had also figured out he was Spiderman. For a moment they almost had a shared secret and system, Ned was the guy in the chair, and MJ brought a pragmatic edge that kept other more curious people away. 

Everything looked like it was going to go awesome the week between the trip and the reveal. MJ while not at all interested in listening in on Peter’s patrols herself, would stay up and keep Ned company. Their little mutual bond was growing and then everything went to hell. How do you stay a secret keeper if everyone already knows? 

That didn't matter right now though, what did matter was not being a scrub and filming this awesome workout the correct way. Ned rotated his phone so that Mr. War Machine and Peter were horizontal. The shift came at just the right time as Peter snapped out a kick and at full extension curled his foot in and held the position. 

"Your boy is a bit of a show off," Ned informed MJ sunnily as she sat back against a nearby tree book in front of her face seemingly as per usual. 

"He's not 'My Boy'" MJ shot back rolling her eyes, "Because that would mean I'm 'His Girl' and that's how the cycle of patriarchy sustains itself." 

"You say that," Ned grinned at her " but you haven;t turned a page for a solid five minutes, right around the time Peter started doing those leg stretches.”

MJ’s cheeks colored slightly as she deliberately turned a page. “It’s the system; I am a victim of it’s tools just as much as any other woman.” 

At that moment Peter and Mr. War Machine were circling the clearing as they went through a sparring routine. MJ spent zero time reading, Ned would point that out to her later, instead he worked on getting his phone to zoom in properly on the sparring pair. 

“I can’t say I blame you,” Ned said satisfied that quality would be achieved, “Peter’s my bro, but even I have to admit he has an amazing ass.”

“Careful Leeds,” MJ replied with an amused smirk, “That part of that particular tool very much belongs to me.”

“You do you,” Ned said with a shrug and they both lapsed into a comfortable silence as training continued. 

Five minutes later the tool in question came over the two of them, Ned casually tossed him a bottle of gatorade and a towel which Peter caught without thinking before leaping and landing behind MJ and wrapping his arms around her and kissing her on the back of the neck. 

“Oh My GOD! Parker!,” MJ screeched as she squirmed away from her boyfriend’s grasp, “You are all sticky and gross, I hate it when you are this sweaty”

“That’s going to be a big problem later on,” Ned said before he could stop himself.

The only response he got were twin death glares. Peter for his part was doing his best to glare in solidarity with his girlfriend except for the not really hidden self-satisfied smirk. Ned grinned at them in response. 

MJ turned towards Peter and rolled her eyes, “You aren’t just losers, you are both tools, but Ned you are the tool of a tool.”

“Valid,” Ned confirmed unphased, and threw his fist out towards Peter who returned the fist bump automatically, including the essential mouth explosions. 

MJ rolled her eyes again, but she did lean back into Peter's arms with a satisfied smirk on her own face.

“Hey Kid!” Mr. War Machine called out, “this was supposed to be a water break, mack on your own time.”

“Yes sir!” Peter called out as his face flushed red and hurriedly disentangled himself from MJ. he leaned over giving her a hasty kiss before sprinting back across the clearing.

Ned watched MJ watch Peter running across the field her own face red at being called out on PDA. He leaned down and made a big show of picking up her abandoned book. MJ kept staring so he helpfully waved the book in front of her face, 

“You might have missed it, since you were watching ‘Your Boy’ but you dropped your dignity.” Ned let out a mischievous grin, “All I found though was your book.”

He took a punch in the shoulder like a champ; it was only numb for like a minute before he could start recording again.

*********

An hour later the four were walking back to the Lake house. Ned was chatting excitedly with Col. Rhodes at the front of the group about camera angles and how he needed an official videographer for training sessions. Peter who was a little tired and sore, but content had his arm wrapped around MJ’s shoulder not quite leaning on her. He abused his spider stickiness a little to maintain contact as she ducked and weaved to get away from the residual sweatiness. He and MJ were lightly jostling each other as the house came into view. 

Peter was about to wrap MJ in his arms when he heard the sound of tires on the gravel driveway. He jerked his head up and pivoted towards the sound and narrowed his eyes to focus. The vehicle sounded familiar, judging by the sounds the tire treads made on the gravel and several other unconscious clues he would never be able to explain fully he recognized the car as Happy’s or at least one of the Audis that Happy routinely used around the Lake House. 

Peter let go of MJ and picked up his pace to match Col. Rhodes who was not rushing to the house but seemed to be aware that someone or something was on their way and he wanted to meet whoever the newcomers might be. 

Happy was just opening the passenger side door when the quartet drew close. Peter tugged unconsciously on his wrists, once again wishing his new hold out web shooters were ready. It was extremely unlikely whoever was getting out of the car would be a threat. Not here with Happy bringing them to the house personally. On the other hand, after London, there was no such thing as being too careful. 

Peter tried to act casual as he placed himself between MJ, Ned and the car as Happy opened the door revealing a boy around his own age with dirty blond hair gelled somewhat spiky. He was wearing sunglasses and looked a little tired from traveling. Peter recognized him from Tony’s funeral. The kid had been closer to the back of the crowd and had looked as lost as Peter had been that day. 

“Pete, buddy” Happy greeted him with a handshake, “I want you to meet Harley Keener, Keener, meet Peter Parker.”

Harley Keener, he’d heard that name before...

*********

_ Three months before Titan: _

“Hey Underoos, “ Tony had called him over Karen one night when he was on patrol, “I can see you don’t have a lot going on right now. I want to run an idea by you?”

“Sure thing Mr. Stark,” Mr. Stark wanted to run an idea by him, there was no way he was going to swing around for this, so he took a moment to find the nearest rooftop. “I’m ready now, all ears and stuff, I don't know what I can do for you, but I will do whatever I can.”

“Easy Kid,” Tony moderated as a window with Mr. Stark’s popped up in Peter’s suit display “This isn’t the end of the world, but I’ve been thinking of creating a new position for the summer, something like a personal intern.”

“Personal intern?” Peter squeaked, there was no way Mr. Stark was suggesting what Peter thought he was saying, 

“Yep,” Mr. Stark said popping the ‘p’, “That way I can keep an eye on you officially in a way that will look good on college applications AND it gives Aunt Hottie a break from you being around the apartment all summer teenagering.”

“That’s not a word,” Peter corrected before muttering, “and don’t call her that.”

“It’s a word if I say it is,” Mr. Stark mumbled behind a jaw cracking yawn, “I’ll even give you the other one, sorry Kiddo. I just got carried away thinking about what you two could accomplish this summer.”

“Me and May?” Peter tilted his head in confusion and somehow the suit cameras picked that up, “Mr. Stark, how many days have you been going without sleep?”

“Only three days,” Mr. Stark said in a way that refused to dignify the question, “I should probably get some, I only have three months untill you and Harley make my life hell.”

Peter was going to ask who Harley was but at that moment he heard a woman screaming for help. Karen was already plotting the route and Peter as Spiderman was already airborne as Mr. Stark closed the window and threatened him to be careful or else.

  


*******

_ Stark Will Reading, One week after Tony Stark’s Funeral: _

Peter barely felt the chair he was sitting in, His hands had a death grip on each other and he focused on that and the almost imperceptible sense of May next to him a chair over. May was checking through job openings in the actual printed paper while they both stewed in the waiting area. Despite what Happy has said when picking the Parkers up from the way too nice hotel they had been staying in the past week the will reading apparently wasn’t for them. 

By all rights they should have left, but neither Peter or May had enough cash to afford a cab during rush hour. The clothes had come from Pepper herself as they were wearing the same formal clothes they had worn during Tony’s funeral. So May and Peter stewed in the very expensive almost empty waiting room. 

Almost empty except for a kid around his age who sat as far away as possible from the Parkers on the other side of the room and stared into his lap the entire time. On any other day Peter would have gone over to at least say hi to the dude out of politeness if nothing else. However the poor guy had the same shocked empty look on his face that Peter was sure he sported. That and Peter was pretty damned sure he was less than awesome company right now. 

Peter’s thoughts broke off as he picked up the sound of movement down the hall and did his best to hide his anticipation as the doors to the lawyer’s office opened. Footsteps soon came down the hall, the lawyer leading Mrs. Stark and Tony’s daughter politely out of the office and to a private elevator. Colonel Rhodes stopped to give Peter a sympathetic nod and tried to say a few words. Peter looked away and tried not to listen as he tried to win the battle between tears and self control. 

He was holding it together, only crying once in the shower this morning, and his pride wouldn't let him cry in front of all these people who were actually important to Tony Stark. It's not like he wanted a piece of Tony’s money, it was never about that. It just would have been nice to at least be let inside the room and demonstrate to others that Tony was important enough to him and vice versa that Peter was requested to be there. 

Happy came up to Peter and May after the gaggle of official mourners left. He looked totally wrung out like everyone did really. Both Parkers got up to follow Happy, assuming that they were about they were about to be taken back to the hotel. Instead Happy opened up a much smaller office, he motioned May and Peter inside. As he passed Happy, Peter noticed out of reflex that Happy was breathing hard and his heart was beating faster in a mix of repressed anger and sadness.

“First of all,” Happy said heavily when the door shut and neither Parker chose to sit, “I want you guys to know Pepper and I are pissed about the way you’ve been treated today. She would have stayed to tell you herself but Morgan was right on the edge of a breakdown and Pepper wanted to get her into the car and home.”

“Why are we here Happy?” Peter asked miserably his shell starting to break, “It’s obvious I-we weren’t wanted here.”

“The lawyers screwed up Pete,” Happy said simply, “Tony had you in the will, and everything was all set up. It was an old will before...everything. But then he had Morgan and a bunch of will updates and shit later some ‘enterprising’ asshole wrote you and some others out of the will because you were technically dead.”

“What exactly does that mean?” May asked trying to be practical while crushing the newspaper in her hands. 

“Good news or bad news first?” Happy looked at their faces and sighed, wiping his own hand down his face “Right, it’s always the bad news. First of all, the education fund is gone, it got dissolved and absorbed into a general college scholarship. Some of the other arrangements are gone as well, including your status Peter. With Tony dead you aren’t his intern anymore.”

“This is bullshit,” May began just as Peter asked “What about the suits, what am I supposed to do about them now?”

“Easy, easy,” Happy said putting both his hands up in surrender trying to quell the justified questions, “Pepper’s already got the ball rolling trying to fix everything but with the reversal contract law is all kinds of screwed up.”

Happy reached into his coat pocket and revealed two manila envelopes. One had May’s name, the other Peters and Happy handed them off their intended recipients. “Until then, Pepper wanted me to give these to you, ‘’Inside is the key to the storage unit we put the stuff from your apartment into. One of my guys can drive you out there when you find a place and we will help you get moved in.” Happy cleared his throat awkwardly, “There’s some other stuff in their too.”

May looked into the envelope and her eyes widened at the same time Peter heard her heart speed up, “Happy this is too much...“

“Don’t even start May,” Happy said wearily, “I know how you are, this is the lowest I could get Pep to go.”

Peter tried to tune out the argument between Happy and May so taking the only distraction he could get he opened his own manila envelope. Inside was a blank Stark Industries ID card and a smaller piece of paper, Happy’s business card with an unfamiliar number on one side and a note on the other:

‘My personal number, you need me any of your hero crap, or anything else you call me. Got it?

\--Happy ‘

Peter spent the rest of the time in the small office trying not to cry, again while Happy and May argued.

The boy in the lobby was long gone by the time a truce was called and Happy was able to drive M

  


********

_ Tony’s garage workshop, three days after Times Square: _

“.........and that’s it Kiddo, that’s all the boring business stuff you are going to need,” Holographic Tony looks worn out, his lips form into a bitter smile, “I wish I had a better way to say this Underoos, no, Peter I really wish I could say this in person after we get you and everyone else back. But obviously I can’t or you wouldn’t be watching this so I guess late is better than never” Holo Tony let out a deep sigh, “….Welcome to the family Peter.”

When the message had started Peter had dropped to the lab floor and wrapped his arms around his knees. Tears were falling freely from his face. Seeing Tony again, even like this was the last pebble in the emotional avalanche. Peter was about to call out to F.R.I.D.A.Y. to end the recording, or start it over again when Holo Stark sighed again from the past. 

“There is One more thing Pete,” Holo Tony said raking his hand back through his hair, “ I know Pepper and Morgan have Happy and Rhodey to watch out for them, and you are going to do it anyway because you are you. But there’s this kid, I told you about him once, or tried to before, His name is Harley Keener and when the two of you meet the Earth is going to tremble. There are at most six people I trust absolutely Pete, Harley’s one of them and so are you. Take care of each other, for me.”

“Love ya underoos.”

**********

Peter Parker reached out and shook Harley Keener’s hand. 

**Author's Note:**

> Next time, Pepper Potts vs May Parker ring the bell suckers!


End file.
